When History Repeats: A Tale of Two Mothers

You ever read a book, watch a movie, learn some history, and think to yourself “That was pretty good, but what if it turned out this way instead?”. Me too! I like speculative history as much as the next person, but the world is such a complicated place. The more accurate you try to be, the more vague your alternate history must become. It’s too bad we’ll never know for sure… or will we? If there’s one thing people like to say about history, it’s that it repeats. Today I’m going to tell you a story about how a young noblewoman used her position as the emperor’s wife to take control of the Roman Empire, only to find herself locked in a life and death struggle with her own teenage son. One story, with two very different endings.

Music (in order of appearance):
Pink Zebra - Cut the Cheese
Kevin Macleod - Hidden Past
Laurie Johnson - Happy Go Lively
Orchestralis - The Roman Legion
Kevin Macleod - Fun in a Bottle
Orchestralis - Medieval Harp and Flute
Studio Etude - Old Gnome
Music Dog - Greek Tradition
Death Note OST - Low of Solipsism
Score Wizards - The Magic Clock
Kevin Macleod - Holiday Weasel
Metatron Omega - Sanctum
Kevin Macleod - Our Story Begins
Kevin Macleod - Pippin the Hunchback
Kevin Macleod - Unholy Knight

[lonwof]

Fun fact, Agripinna had been exiled to some island and had spent some time there sponge diving. She was an excellent swimmer.

[tacolordc]

The random guy who became emperor was actually a time traveler who stopped the marriage between Irene and Charlemagne to prevent something terrible.

[holstorrsceadus]

BUT MOOOMMMM! - Every Prince with his mother as his Regent ever

[johnblunt]

The buzzer beater finesse of lying your way into the emperorship is crazy

[badgamemaster]

Agripinna: mostly known as Nero's mother
Irene: known as Empress Irene the mother of who?

[davidcoquelle]

Irene is one of those cases where I do feel that you can make a moral argument that she was reprehensible. even by the times she lived in, because of what she did to her own child for power. (ps I include Constantine the 1 for the same reasons).

[anniel]

Ever since I first learned about the Charlemagne/Irene proposal, I have been so fascinated by the prospect. I really need to look and see if anyone has written any alternate history fiction about it.

[EpicgamerwinXD]

At least one of those women had her her own son blinded and led to his agonizing death.

[christopherevans]

Cassius Dio was a artist indeed. My favorite contemporary historian.

[TheSci-fiAnarchist]

Babe, wake up! Jack just dropped a new Roman history video! And this time it's a two for one!

[CSLucasEpic]

The best part is that young Nero didn't even want to be the emperor

[holstorrsceadus]

2 Constantines on the wheel is a nice touch.

[eliannafreely]

Jack, Hatshepsut of Egypt is the iteration of this story where the Queen in question wins - never loses power but reins for 20 years as the only (one of two - forgot Cleopatra) female Pharoah of Egypt. There were other powerful Queens Regent of Egypt, but all of them ruled for their sons. Hatshepsut was the only one to get the court and country to acknowledge her as full Pharoah in her own right. Her claim by bloodline was as strong, if not stronger than her stepson's and Egyptian law did not actually prohibit female rule at that time - probably because no one imagined the possibility socially. It meant there was no legal impediment, but she must have been a master of statescraft and a force of will, because she would have needed to get the priesthood/aristocracy behind her to support her claim. She not only did, but kept that support, even after her stepson came of age. Egypt's natural system of rulership may have aided this, since co-regency was a common thing that many pharoahs did. It served to provide a smooth transition of power and clear heir, to have the old pharoah and new pharoah share power for a while. So instead of having to choose one over the other, Egypt could simply recognize them both. The widespread idea that she dressed up in male clothes to enforce her authority is inaccurate however. Statues of her depict her female shape and in hieroglyphs her name and the word for Pharoah are made feminine. The false beard was a part of the royal insignia and worn by every Pharoah as a sign of kingship. Even the male ones with their own beards.

[seanarki]

Ah another lovely video that is sure to have a happy ending.

[thiqueness]

When I was in junior high school taking Latin for a language, my teacher gave us all Julio-Claudian names that we had to research and use in class. I orginally hated that he gave me Agrippina [the Younger] because of the way it sounded... until I researched her. She is by far one of my favorite bad girls of history. I'm so excited to learn about her more successful successor

[prettypic]

What is this, a crossover episode? (but seriously, I LOVE how you connected these two figures across time; so many people forget that the byzantine empire WAS the roman empire!)

[christopherevans]

The "Emperor is right wheel" haha

[ktkatte]

i absolutely lost my shit when the "I lied" banners rolled out

[RanadielMarius]

That ending. You can't tease me with the HRE and the Byzantine Empire merging only for it to be derailed by a rando pulling a political Leeroy Jenkins that actually works. That's just not fair. Stupid RNG ruining perfect political machinations!

Also we need the option to pull that stunt in Crusader Kings 3. XD

[Paperbatvgchampion]

Just commenting for engagement purposes. Keep doing what you're doing Jack.